Day: October 6, 2018

librarycompany:

We are excited to be leading an #ArchivesPHL social media challenge! Bring your collections to life by publishing GIFs every Wednesday of October using the hashtag #animatedarchive. 

We couldn’t resist the cuteness of this pup rocking a baby in a bassinet on a trade card advertising Geo. B. Bains Leather Goods.  

Geo. B.. Bains & Sons, Leather Goods, 1028 Chestnut Street. Berman Collection of Philadelphia Trade Cards. 

queerdo-mcjewface:

thechronicchillpill:

chronicfatiguelife:

thechronicchillpill:

parents not believing their disabled child is actually disabled and forcing them to go beyond their limits is abuse.

parents calling their disabled kid a burden or a problem to them is abuse

parents using the disabled kids story to their advantage and making it more about themselves is abuse.

stop excusing abuse just because the victim is disabled.

Dude I totally needed to hear this. My mom HAS chronic health issues but for the longest time, denied anything was wrong with me. She’d tell me I was making it up to get out of school or doing chores, that I was lazy, that I should write a book of excuses, etc. Even after being diagnosed, she still expects more from me than my body is capable of doing. Because SHE was able to power through it when she was young, I should also be able to power through it is the way she looks at it.

Im so sorry you have to go through that, it isbt fair and no persons experience w illness is the same. You are your own person with your own personal struggles w illness. Fuck her.

Youre doing the best you can, keep going. I believe in you.

Refusing to allow their child to do things the child is capable of (or could do with assistance) is also potentially abusive.

queerdo-mcjewface:

fancyladssnacks:

thebibliosphere:

comtessedebussy:

will-work-for-spoons:

quietborderlineinfo:

motivation-gems:

dysfunctionalqueer:

dynastylnoire:

feministingforchange:

iatrogenic:

jovialdictator:

this is why its depressing to work in a pharmacy.

I was definitely a profit killer when I worked in a pharmacy (which honestly was my favorite job in the entire world, but it was short-lived and nowadays you can’t work at a pharmacy like that, it’s all tied in with corporate retail and no one should ever trust me with a cash register ever). It was not, however, actually a profit killer for the pharmacy, just for the drug companies, so no one cared. These days I do medical billing, which means I actually bill OUT from hospitals so I’m mostly spending my professional time taking money away from insurance companies. 

I will now impart all of my profit killing resources onto you, in case you don’t know them. I think most of you know them, now. But just in case you don’t.

THIS IS US-CENTRIC. I’M SORRY. 

1. GoodRx – this thing has an app now, so you can look up the best places to get your expensive medicines at the lowest possible prices without insurance on the go, and you no longer have to print coupons because you can just hand over your phone or tablet. Times have changed for the better with GoodRx. Definitely use it before trying to fill your scrip, because it will tell you the best place to go. (You can do that on the website, too.)

2. NeedyMeds – Needymeds is basically the clearinghouse of drug payment assistance. They have their own discount cards, but also connections to many patient assistance programs run by drug companies themselves. They are good assistance programs, too.

3. Ask your county – This is not a link. This is a pro tip. Most county social services will have pharmacy discount programs for people with no and/or shitty pharmaceutical coverage. You can often just find them hanging around at social services offices; you can just pick one up and walk off with it. 

4. Ordering online – There are a few safe online pharmacies. I keep a little database in a text file on my computer. Most of them are courtesy of CFS forums, my mother or voidbat, so a lot of that is a hat tip to other people, but if you’re in need of a place to get a drug without a prescription … first I’ll make sure you 100% know what you’re doing for safety reasons and then I’m happy to turn over a link. 

5. Healthfinder – A government resource that helps find patient assistance programs in your area. This might also point out the convenient county card thing. RxHope is something a lot of people get pointed to via Healthfinder that’s a good program.

6. Mental Health America – Keeps a list of their best PAPs for psychiatric medications, which can be some of the most expensive and a lot of pharmacy plans don’t cover them at all. 

This is so important ppl.

Signal boost the shit out of it!

Booooooooooooooooooost

Good Rx Saved my family a hundred dollars a month while I was getting signed up for CHIP
seriously it’s a life savor especially for ridiculously expensive drugs like abilify

Useful info, friends! 😉

Since many of our followers are on medications, I feel like this would be an important resource.
-Luna

Also! Some drug companies have patient assistance programs where they send you the drug for FREE if you are uninsured, or if your insurance doesn’t cover that drug.

Do a Google search for “patient assistant programs” + (your med), or search the manufacturers website. Sometimes the info is online; other times you have to call.

Even some of the big name pharma companies have this. It’s certainly not all companies, or all meds, but it is worth a shot.

Before Obamacare, I lost insurance and couldn’t pay for my mood stabilizers (kiiiiinda important to have those when you’re bipolar.) I was on generic Lamictal, but I went to the official Lamictal website, filled out a form with a valid prescription, and they mailed my meds to me every month for free.

If you know anything about bipolar disease, you know that that was a literal life saver. Patient assistance programs ftw!

This is so important given the recent vote to repeal Obamacare. And the cartoon above is so on point They’re literally voting to kill people. Literally.

Some of my meds are no longer going to be partially covered by my ridiculously expensive private insurance. I just used the GoodRX website to look it up, and I can either spend $40 at Target to pay for one of them out of pocket–per month–, or I can get it at Sams Club for $4. No that is not a typo. The drug I need to take every single day to keep my allergies from spiraling out of control (yay auto-immune bullshit) is literally ten times cheaper at Sams Club. Holy shit.

Signal boost for my US buds

While uninsured I used GoodRx to get a discount on my Spironolactone. 

edinzphoto:

I’m on a seabird roll! But when I say ‘seabird’, what do I mean? Seagulls, right? Well, gulls are seabirds, but seabirds are any species that get their food from the ocean. I’m talking tiny wee things like this New Zealand storm petrel, to big bois like Southern Royal Albatross, to flightless penwings. Shags, terns, and yes, gulls, make the cut too. Many of these birds spend most of their lives well away from land, getting all they need from the sea. So us land-lubbing humans don’t see them that often, because they only return to land to breed – and often to isolated islands, preferably ones free from introduced predators that can decimate colonies. ⠀
⠀
In the Hauraki Gulf, we are lucky to have so many seabirds within a stone’s throw from Aotearoa’s biggest city. Take a ferry to Waiheke or Tiri, and you’ll likely see Fluttering shearwaters, one of our common resident seabirds. It’s a globally important site for seabirds, with 5 region-endemic species that breed nowhere else on earth – like this New Zealand storm petrel. It’s a great place to be a seabird scientist! ⠀
⠀
#birdventurenz #seabird #seabirdscience #petrelhead #aotearoa #nzgeo #yearofthebird #birdstagram #your_best_birds #birds_adored #bird_brilliance #womeninstem #fieldwork #fieldbiology #birding #wildlife_magic #tinydancer #birdsofinstagram #wildearth #feathered_finds #ig_captures #nature_perfection #wanderwonder #wildernessculture #adventure #wildnz #nzbirds #travelnz #haurakigulf #seachange @nzgeo @dphoto_magazine @forestandbird
https://www.instagram.com/p/BoFGsaph2JR/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1oc2jqu897z64

hey so California’s Prop 8 this year is about regulations on dialysis clinics, and I’m having trouble figuring out if it would be a good thing or not. Do you have any opinions?

pervocracy:

I’m all for it.  (Link for reference.)  Dialysis is a huge racket; the companies charge insurance/Medicare hundreds of dollars a treatment and then provide an absolute minimum of service.  It’s one thing to make a profit, no one’s asking them to do this for free, but the relentless drive to maxmize profits in dialysis is having a huge negative impact on the safety and quality of care.  When I worked in dialysis, I saw stuff like:

– Extremely old and poorly maintained machines being used, leading to breakdowns where the patient’s blood would have to be manually pumped back in to their body

– Technicians being sent home mid-shift to save a few bucks, sometimes in the middle of treating a patient

– Violations of the minimum patient-to-staff ratios by claiming that managers who were not treating patients or even in eyesight of them counted toward our ratio

Prop 8 will require dialysis centers to massively cut their prices and/or massively reinvest revenues into improving their care, and these are badly needed changes.

humansofnewyork:

“I had some experience with abuse as a young child.  Victims are shamed in our culture, so I couldn’t talk to anyone.  I had to deal with it myself.  I had to grow out of it.  I tried to cope by reading books about the human brain.  I learned how to heal, and move on, and not be bitter.  Only later did I discover that all this was something called ‘psychology.’  I only wanted to get to the point where I didn’t feel shame anymore.  And the more I learned, the more I became determined to feel comfortable with sex.  I joined sex forums online.  I experimented.  I had threesomes.  Eventually I learned so much that I decided to become an educator.  I’ve moderated about fifteen discussions so far.  I call it: ‘The Sex Talk.’  I’ve spoken at church groups.  I’ve spoken at schools.  And it’s taken a lot of courage.  Because people in this country think that if you’re speaking about it, you’re encouraging it. But I think secrecy is what’s harmful.  Why not explain sex to kids?  We show them how to do everything else.  They need to know that these feelings are natural, and that they have a brain to keep them in check.  Either we educate people about sex, or they’ll be confused by it.  And if they’re confused by it, they’ll be shamed by it.  And if they’re shamed by it, they’ll be controlled by it.”  
(Accra, Ghana)